SUNDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 28, Eastern Illinois 15
#10 Jacksonville State 38, @Tennessee State 16
Murray State 24, @#16 Southeast Missouri 21
UT MARTIN 28, EASTERN ILLINOIS 15
MARTIN, Tenn. - After a long 16-month hiatus, the University of Tennessee at Martin football team finally got the chance to play in front of its home fans on Sunday afternoon and put on a show, scoring 21 unanswered points to open the contest en route to a 28-15 victory over Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Illinois.
The Skyhawks (1-1, 1-1 OVC) and Panthers (0-2, 0-2 OVC) were originally scheduled to play today’s contest back on Sunday, Feb. 21 but Mother Nature had other ideas as heavy amounts of snow forced the game’s postponement to the league’s built in make-up week. Fast forward two weeks to a beautiful sunny and 61-degree afternoon, and the Skyhawks were able to treat their faith fans to several highlight moments.
UT Martin struck first in the contest as John Bachus III connected with Rodney Williams II for one of two touchdown passes of the day – this one coming on a 21-yard pass to cap off a six-play, 72-yard drive late in the opening quarter.
The Skyhawks then added two more touchdowns in a matter of minutes in the second quarter. After a missed 53-yard field goal attempt by EIU, UT Martin began its first drive of the second quarter on its 35. The Skyhawks would methodically move the ball down the field with a nine-play scoring drive totaling 65 yards before punctuating it with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Bachus to Donnell Williams for the 14-point advantage. Then just two plays later, the defense would join in the action by getting on the scoreboard as John Ford tallied his first career interception on the 50-yard line and returned it to the house for a touchdown making it 21-0.
Eastern Illinois finally broke into the scoring column just before halftime as Harry Woodbery found Matt Judd for a six-yard touchdown with 2:11 to play.
UT Martin posted its final points on the board midway through the third quarter when the pair of Bachus and Rodney Williams II connected for the second time of the day on a 15-yard touchdown.
The Panthers looked to rally in the fourth quarter as Woodbery found Cooks for a 45-yard strike to bring the score within 15 points before a safety off a blocked punt made the contest 28-15. While it looked like EIU had stolen the momentum, the Skyhawks settled down and forced three turnovers on downs on the final three possessions of the game to secure the victory.
UT Martin tallied 326 yards of total offense – including 269 yards through the air and three touchdowns. Bachus completed 24-of-36 passes for 259 yards and three touchdowns. Rodney Williams paced the receiving core with eight receptions for 95 yards and two touchdowns while Donnell Williams tallied four receptions for 66 yards and score.
Defensively, the Skyhawks were menacing in the backfield with 12.0 tackles for loss while also tallying eight pass break-ups. Chrishun Jackson and Deven Sims led the team with nine tackles each while the trio of D’Carrious Stephens, Takeem Young and JaQuez Akins each recorded six on the afternoon. Sims and Akins combined to tally five pass breakups while the trio of Young, Korbin Harmon and Austin Pickett each notched at last 1.5 tackles for loss.
#10 JACKSONVILLE STATE 38, TENNESSEE STATE 16
NASHVILLE - No. 10 Jacksonville State extended its winning streak to five with a methodical 38-16 victory over the Tigers at Hale Stadium on Sunday. The Gamecocks (5-1, 2-0) currently own the longest active winning streak among FCS programs.
Zion Webb passed for a career-best 280 yards and three touchdowns and the defense limited Tennessee State (0-2, 0-2) to 225 net yards as JSU ran its all-time mark against the Tigers in Nashville to 6-0.
Uriah West ran for a touchdown and caught a 54-yard TD pass, Pat Jackson added a short first-quarter touchdown run and Dave Russell III and Quan Charleston caught touchdown passes from Webb as the Gamecocks overcame two turnovers that led to Tennessee State field goals.
Jacksonville State scored 17 points in an eight-minute span to pull away in the fourth after the Tigers trimmed their deficit to 21-16.
Webb hooked up with West on a 54-yard touchdown pass at the 12:03 mark to finish off a quick 74-yard scoring drive, Alen Karajic kicked a 26-yard field goal less than four minutes later and Webb wrapped up the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown toss to Charleston with 3:57 remaining.
Webb completed 21-of-33 passes for 280 yards with one interception - easily eclipsing his career highs of 12 completions (three times previously) and 137 yards vs. Eastern Kentucky in 2018. His first TD pass of the afternoon was a 29-yard strike that Dave Russell III caught in stride just before halftime to extend Jacksonville State's cushion to 21-6.
The Gamecocks outgained TSU 452-225 and recorded 24 first downs to the hosts' 11.
West accounted for 125 all-purpose yards, running seven times for 40 yards and grabbing three passes for 85 more. His five-yard TD run got the Gamecocks on the scoreboard first less than 4 1/2 minutes into the contest.
The junior back has now accounted for 100-plus scrimmage yards in three straight games.
Mike Pettway caught a team-high six passes for 75 yards for Jacksonville State.
Marshall Clark was the Gamecocks' leading tackler with eight stops, followed by Nicario Harper with seven.
MURRAY STATE 24, #16 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 21
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Murray State football head Dead Hood only had to wait two games into his tenure to find a signature win, as his Racers upset 16th-ranked Southeast Missouri, 24-21, Sunday afternoon at Houck Stadium in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. With the win, the Racers are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 1998.
The Redhawks got things started on the opening drive when they went 81 yards on nine plays, capped by a Zion Custis 5-yard rush, to give Southeast Missouri an early 7-0 lead. On the ensuing Murray State drive, the Racers scored on a 25-yard pass from Preston Rice to Rodney Castille ending a quick four-play, 65-yard drive and tying the game at seven.
On the next SEMO drive, the Redhawks had a first-and-10 on their own 37 when a bad snap got away from quarterback Andrew Bunch and after bouncing between several Redhawks and Racers, ended up being recovered by SEMO on their own 12-yard line. On the next play, a second-and-35, Bunch threw the ball directly to the Racers’ Marcis Floyd who returned the ball 22 yards for a pick six that put his team up, 14-7, just three drives into the game
Murray State would go on to add a 34-yard field goal by Aaron Baum later in the quarter to extend the lead to 17-7 at the end of the first. After the two teams combined for 24 points in the first quarter, neither team scored in the second or third quarters.
Finally, after a 33:37 scoring drought by both teams, the Redhawks took advantage of a bad punt by the Racers and went 30 yards in six plays to cut the deficit to three. Custis scored his second touchdown of the game on the drive, this time punching it in from the 1.
On the very next drive, SEMO’s Shabari Davis picked off Rice and returned the ball 33 yards for a pick six of his own to give his team a 21-17 lead with 11:47 to play. However, amidst the celebration SEMO was flagged for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which would be enforced on the ensuing kickoff. Kicking off from his own 10-yard line, Adam Krause booted the ball 53 yards, which was then returned 16 yards by Malik Honeycutt giving the Racers the opportunity to start their drive at their own 49.
On the second play of that next drive, LaMartez Brooks gave Murray State a much needed boost when he broke off a 30-yard run to the SEMO 19-yard line. After a pair of rushes and a pair of passes, Rice finished the drive off himself with a 3-yard run to put Murray State back on top, 24-21, with 7:57 to go in the game.
Following the touchdown, the Racer defense forced a three-and-out from the Redhawks that netted negative-six yards. On the next MSU drive, the Racers went 37 yards and ate up 6:00 of clock time, before eventually stalling on a fourth-and-7 at the SEMO 27. With just 22 seconds left, Bunch threw two incomplete passes before being intercepted by Floyd again as time expired.
For the second consecutive game, the Racer defense held its opponent to under 200 total yards, 185 on Sunday, and produced three takeaways. Floyd played a big part of that defensive performance, finishing the day with two interceptions, six tackles including four solo and a touchdown. Eric Samuta led the Racers in tackles on the day with nine including five solo, in addition to a team-high 1.5 tackles-for-loss.
Offensively, Damonta Witherspoon led a rushing attack that tallied 195 total yards of his own with 108 on 22 carries. The win was the first in five tries for the Racers at Houck Stadium, with the last coming in 2011, and is the first road win over a ranked team since 2017.